United States: CFWIJ condemns the threats and organized trolling against Julie DiCaro

March 17, 2021- Writer and editor at “Deadspin” Julie DiCaro shared harrowing trauma she suffered because of mass trolling in her recently published book, “Sidelined: Sports, Culture, and Being a Woman in America”. Julie shared two major instances from 2013 and 2015 when she was massively attacked and threatened online. The journalist locked herself in-home and tried to hide her identity after receiving rape and death threats. CFWIJ condemns the toxic trend of mass trolling and feels sorry for what Julie had to go through. We stand in solidarity with the journalist and demand that giant social media platforms make amends to cull the toxic trends of online threats against journalists.

Julie shared in her book that in the year 2013 she wrote an article on eliminating some myths on the behaviour of rape victims. In which she had shared her personal rape story. As soon as the piece was published, Julie was herself being massively trolled. To her shock, a dozen of keyboard warriors were threatening to rape and kill her. Some even accused her of making up a story about being raped. Julie changed the settings of her account to private and did not use Twitter for some time to avoid any new threats. 

The writer again found herself being tarnished online in August 2015. She had published a piece on Chicago Blackhawk star, Patrick Kane, an accused in a sexual assault case. The journalist stood by every detail she mentioned in the story. Julie received grave threats from Patrick's fans. One even told her to come to Chicago to kill her. Another said that he hoped she would get raped again. She was sent an image of a blindfolded woman who was bleeding. The journalist shared that she has not recovered from that one image till now. The most direct attack happened when Julie received a picture of her building from someone. The harasser sent the picture of the entrance of the building where Julie used to work.

After careful consideration, Julie was homebound for the entire weekend. The journalist got some courage over the coming days and resumed her work with the same passion. The Coalition For Women In Journalism is deeply saddened to know what Julie had to suffer just because of doing her with sincerity. We demand that social media tycoons admit the gravity of online threats and make necessary amends to tackle this issue. CFWIJ stands in solidarity with Julie and every journalist who is showing up to work amidst all the threats and hardships they face.